Education Foundation benefits Pitt-Bradford

In
the early years of Pitt-Bradford, students relied on
family, work and private scholarships to pay for their tuition and fees.

To
make a college education more affordable, Pitt-Bradford began to build an
endowment to enable it to provide scholarships to its students.

During
the 1978-79 academic year, the University of Pittsburgh first considered closing
its campus in Titusville as one of many ways to deal with its financial
challenges. While there was no talk of closing Pitt-Bradford, which had just
begun granting four-year degrees, the ever-vigilant members of the AdvisoryBoard at Pitt-Bradford began to plan.

Fearful
that its endowment would go to Pittsburgh if the University of Pittsburgh were
to close the Bradford campus, the Board members formed the Bradford EducationalFoundation in 1981.

With
initial seed money from the Marian C. Kennedy Trust Fund, the BEF quickly built
up more than $781,000 in assets. In the ensuing years, distributions from the
Foundation to Pitt-Bradford were used primarily for scholarships, although
facility improvement projects and academic programs also received support.

Sam
W. Gregg, an Advisory Board member, retired Witco-Kendall executive and strong
supporter of Pitt-Bradford, became the first president of BEF. Advisory Board
member Thomas Bromeley followed Sam Gregg as president and continues to serve
in that capacity.

In
2011-12, the most recent year for which statistics are available, Pitt-Bradford
students received $458,235 in donor scholarships. From 2008-12, $2.2 million in
scholarships was distributed. One of those scholarship recipients was Susan
Niegowski, a nontraditional student who received her Associate of Science in
Nursing in 2008 and Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2009.

As
part of a Pitt-Bradford tradition, Niegowski was able to meet the donor of her
scholarship. “There are no words to tell you what a pleasure it was to be able
to personally thank those individuals who helped my education possible,” she
said.

Niegowski
now works as a registered nurse at Bradford Regional Medical Center and plans
to return to Pitt-Bradford to pursue a master’s degree in nursing.

For
more information on the Bradford Educational Foundation, contact Jill Ballard,
executive director, at jballard@pitt.edu
or (814)362-5091.